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The Importance of ASEAN’s Partnership Model in Enhancing Global Cooperation
Despite internal conflicts and regional tensions in 2025, ASEAN demonstrated remarkable cohesion. Timor Leste’s accession marked its expansion to 11 members, symbolizing partnership and mutual support. The bloc also achieved a substantive agreement on the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), aiming to harmonize digital trade rules and accelerate digital transformation.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) offers a compelling model for global cooperation, demonstrating remarkable cohesion and progress despite internal conflicts and regional tensions throughout 2025. The bloc advanced its core mission by achieving two significant milestones: expanding to 11 members with Timor Leste’s accession and reaching a substantive agreement on the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA). These achievements underscore ASEAN’s ability to foster strong partnerships and drive substantive progress amidst diverse socio-economic and political landscapes, serving as a vital example in an era of complex global challenges.
Timor Leste’s accession in October 2025, after 14 years and overcoming historical animosities with nations like Indonesia, epitomizes the power of partnership. This expansion reinforces ASEAN’s commitment to “one vision, one identity, and one community,” offering the young nation regional solidarity, economic development through enhanced market access, security, and strengthened sovereignty. In return, Timor Leste’s membership bolsters ASEAN’s integrity, democratic standing, political inclusivity, and potentially offers new market access and strategic leverage due to its location between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Another pivotal development is the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), due to be signed this year as the world’s first region-wide digital economy governance agreement. DEFA aims to accelerate digital transformation by establishing an open, secure, and interoperable digital economy. Its key features include:
- Harmonizing digital trade rules and supporting cross-border data flow.
- Establishing coherent regulations in areas such as e-commerce and digital payments.
- Creating a comprehensive, frequently updated data regulation repository to boost transparency and reduce compliance costs for businesses, particularly benefitting micro-, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
- Addressing data security and privacy concerns, with the proposed ASEAN Data Governance Hub as a key mechanism for digital integration. The agreement is notable for its phased approach, accommodating diverse economic and legal development levels among members without settling for the lowest common denominator, with developed economies leading the way. Forecasts suggest DEFA could contribute to a regional digital economy reaching $1 trillion by 2030, potentially doubling upon full implementation.
ASEAN’s continued functionality as a cohesive economic and political bloc for nearly 60 years, despite its vast internal differences in culture, political models, and socio-economic indicators, provides valuable insights for global cooperation. Its achievements in 2025, particularly the DEFA being cited as an example of “coalitions of smaller economies” and its ability to combine goals like decarbonization with energy security, align with findings from the Global Cooperation Barometer indicating evolving forms of cooperation. Ultimately, ASEAN’s model demonstrates that even with significant collective differences, a commitment to a collective approach and strong partnerships can yield far-reaching and substantive progress, offering a blueprint for addressing shared global challenges.
While challenges like the Myanmar conflict and border disputes persisted, ASEAN’s focus on its core mission and collaborative approach, exemplified by DEFA and Timor Leste’s integration, underscored its continued progress and commitment to regional unity and economic advancement.
Despite internal conflicts and regional tensions in 2025, the Association for Souteast Asian Nations (ASEAN) stayed cohesive and advanced its core mission.
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Nifty holds uptrend after volatile week but faces consolidation near highs
As a result, the index oscillated in a wide intra-week range of 1661.80 points before settling higher. India VIX cooled off meaningfully over the week, declining by about 12%, reflecting easing volatility after the event-heavy phase.
On a weekly basis, the Nifty posted a gain of 373 points. Structurally, the broader trend of the market remains positive, though the index is currently navigating a consolidation phase after a strong up-move.
ETMarkets.comOn the weekly chart, Nifty continues to hold above its key medium-term moving averages, but recent price action shows hesitation near the upper end of the rising channel. The index is dealing with a supply zone around the recent highs, where selling pressure has emerged repeatedly.
While the primary trend is still up, a sustained move above the recent swing high would be required to reassert momentum on the upside, whereas a decisive break below the lower end of the recent consolidation band could trigger a deeper corrective move. For the coming week, the markets may see a positive start after the volatile but event driven week gone by.
Immediate resistance for the Nifty is placed around 26,000, followed by a stronger hurdle near 26,300. On the downside, supports are seen at 25,400, with the next important support placed near 24,850, which also coincides with key moving average support.
Momentum indicators present a neutral-to-slightly-positive picture. The weekly RSI is placed near 53, staying in the neutral zone and not indicating any bullish or bearish divergence against price.
The weekly MACD remains below its signal line, but the histogram has started to narrow, suggesting a loss of downside momentum. On the candlestick front, the week has resulted in a relatively long-range candle, highlighting volatility and indecision near higher levels rather than outright strength.
From a pattern perspective, the weekly chart shows Nifty closing above the falling trendline support. The recent pullback from the highs does not damage the larger trend, as the index continues to trade comfortably above its 50-week and 100-week moving averages. This setup suggests that the long-term trend is intact, but short-term consolidation cannot be ruled out.
Given the current setup, traders and investors should adopt a balanced and selective approach in the coming week. Aggressive long positions may be avoided until the index shows a clear breakout above resistance, while existing positions should be managed with disciplined trailing stops to protect gains. Fresh opportunities are likely to remain stock-specific rather than index-led.
Overall, the focus for the week ahead should be on prudent risk management, selective participation, and closely tracking how the index behaves around the identified support and resistance zones.
In our look at Relative Rotation Graphs®, we compared various sectors against the CNX500 (NIFTY 500 Index), representing over 95% of the free-float market cap of all the listed stocks.
ETMarkets.comRelative Rotation Graphs (RRG) show that the Nifty Financial Services, IT, Banknifty, Services Sector, Metal, and the PSU Bank Indices are inside the leading quadrant of the RRG. While some relative momentum is being lost on the PSU Banks, these groups will continue to relatively outperform the broader markets.
ETMarkets.comThe Nifty Midcap 100 Index has rolled inside the weakening quadrant. This may see a slowdown in the Midcap Index’s relative performance. Along with this, the Nifty Auto and the Infrastructure Indices are also inside the weakening quadrant.
The Nifty Realty and the FMCG Indices languish inside the lagging quadrant with the Realty Index showing a slight improvement in its relative momentum. The Energy Index has rolled inside the improving quadrant. Besides this, the Media Index is also inside the improving quadrant.
Important Note: RRG™ charts show the relative strength and momentum of a group of stocks. In the above Chart, they show relative performance against NIFTY500 Index (Broader Markets) and should not be used directly as buy or sell signals.
(The author Milan Vaishnav is CMT, MSTA Consulting Technical Analyst)
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
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‘He Gets Us’ returns with Super Bowl ad asking ‘Is there more to life?’
Come Near, the agency responsible for the “He Gets Us” campaign, is returning to the Super Bowl with a new video that will air nationally, Sunday, Feb. 8. (Credit: Come Near)
The agency behind a previous viral and controversial Super Bowl ad returns to the big game with a new spot and familiar mission: to “invite all people one step closer to the authentic Jesus from wherever they are.”
Come Near, the organization responsible for the “He Gets Us” campaign, will air a new advertisement during Sunday’s game between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots.
The video, titled “Is there more to life than more?” and directed by filmmaker Salomon Ligthelm, “invites people to rethink what Jesus says about societal pressure, doubt, and fulfillment,” according to a release shared with FOX Business.
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Simon Armour, Come Near’s chief creative officer, says the group emphasizes a “neighbor-led” approach, which inspired the themes for this project.
“One of the things that kept coming up was this feeling of people just having a lot of noise in their life and being able to find peace [amongst] that noise, which is proving very difficult for them,” Armour told FOX Business.
After extensive research, Come Near designed the “Loaded Words” campaign, which looks at words in culture that “have a promise to them,” Armour said.

Come Near, the agency behind the “He Gets Us” campaign, will air a new video during the Super Bowl on Sunday. (Come Near)
The spot features various shots of people scrolling through social media, a child sitting with an abundance of toys, students in a classroom using what appears to be virtual reality headsets, and a plastic surgeon examining a man’s face.
The shots are featured in a fast-paced sequence, until the ad’s final shot, which features a woman in the desert who appears to be looking at the sky.
“There’s more to life than more,” the on-screen text concludes.
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Armour said the spot looks at the “absurdity” of chasing materialistic things such as money, but also things such as influence and recognition. He said the video attempts to “hold up a mirror.”
“Really, that’s our hope in the spot is that [viewers] feel seen and heard, that it is a reflection of where they’re at and what they’re doing,” Armour said. “Jesus never leaves us in the place that he finds us. He offers something more beyond that.”
The ad will air nationwide in the second half of the game, according to the release. The group utilizes what Armour described as a “tent pole strategy.”

Simon Armour, Come Near’s Chief Creative Officer, said the spot focuses on the “absurdity” of chasing materialistic things. (Come Near / Unknown)
“We look at moments in culture where people are really gathering around … the Super Bowl represents another one of those moments where people are really coming together,” Armour said. “I think [it is] a good opportunity for us to again invite people to consider Jesus’ perspective on things that our neighbor is telling us they’re struggling with in their own lives.”
Come Near had an ad played during the Super Bowl in 2024, which was met with backlash on social media from both the right and left.
In response, Armour said Come Near’s previous work was “recognized for commenting on culture,” but this year, the group wanted to “turn that reflection inward.”
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“I think there’s been a natural evolution of the work,” he said. “After four years, campaigns obviously just naturally evolve to stay fresh and still get people’s attention … We didn’t go to that place of being more personal again, because we thought it was a good idea, it was really based on what our neighbor is telling us.”
Come Near has two other ads that will air in various regional markets, including Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, Denver, Wichita, Kansas, Kansas City and Oklahoma City.

Armour says he hopes this video will help people “take a step” towards Jesus. (Come Near / Unknown)
“He Gets Us” is a campaign that “invites all people to consider Jesus and why he matters,” which started in 2021.
The campaign “has brought Jesus into some of culture’s biggest spaces and conversations,” according to its website, and videos on its YouTube channel have amassed 10 million views, a spokesperson said.
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Armour said he hopes that the latest video will help people “take a step” towards Jesus.
“We really judge success based on the pursuit of our mission,” he said. “There’s many ways in which we measure that idea of one step … our hope really is that whatever that looks like for them, that they do take a step towards Jesus.”
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